


No One Messes With a Guy Named Clint

by desert_neon (sproutgirl)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Awesome Coulson, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fill, Trans Character, Trans!Clint, Tumblr Prompt, female to male, job hunting, post-Transition, transvengers, transvengers assemble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 01:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3155918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sproutgirl/pseuds/desert_neon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Transitioned Clint is having a hard time finding a job. He's qualified, but most employers can't get past one little answer on his background check. Enter Phil Coulson of Shield Security.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No One Messes With a Guy Named Clint

**Author's Note:**

> My first foray into any non-cis characterization. For the [Transvengers Initiative](http://transvengersassemble.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. I hope I did well.
> 
> Even though this was technically inspired by a tumblr prompt, I am not including it in my Indulgence series. This is a conscious choice, because I think the subject matter and prompting body, [Transvengers Initiative](http://transvengersassemble.tumblr.com/), deserve to stand strong on their own.

“Mr. Barton?”

Clint looked up from his restless knee, swallowing heavily. He was well aware he wasn’t going to get this job. Just like the other eleven he’d interviewed for. His skills (and the awesome resume Sam at the V.A. had helped him put together) were enough to get him in the door. He’d even gotten through a few of the interviews. But as soon as they saw the required paperwork for a basic background check, he always lost any chance he’d ever had at the position.

It wasn’t even his jail time from when he was a kid. He knew enough to know that priors weren’t a problem for the jobs he was looking for. Security firms and nightclubs looking for bouncers usually considered them a plus, as long as it wasn’t anything too morally reprehensible. (And in some cases even then.)

No, the place where Clint lost his chances at any and all jobs was a different section of that form.

_Have you ever legally changed your name? If yes, what was your previous legal name?_

Clint stood slowly, clutching the form he’d long ago finished filling out and nodding at the young lady who’d come to fetch him. He followed her back through the corridor, until she knocked briskly on a closed office door. The occupant of the office— _Coulson_ , Clint reminded himself. _Mr. Coulson_ —called a welcome, and in Clint went.

“Mr. Barton,” Coulson said, standing and stretching a hand over his desk. 

Clint suppressed the thrill he still got every time he was addressed as “Mister,” and stepped forward to shake the proffered hand. “Mr. Coulson. Thank you for agreeing to see me.”

“A pleasure,” Coulson countered as they both sat, and Clint tried not to stare too hard at the tiny smile hidden in Coulson’s eyes. “Your resume is impressive. It would be a shame to let someone with your qualifications and talents get away.”

Clint snorted, and immediately shifted, feeling like an idiot. Shield Security was the best, most prestigious private security firm in the world, and he had applied on a lark, never expecting to get a call. He knew he wasn’t going to get the job (because no one wanted a _girl_ on the team, even if he’d always been a guy. And now that he was a guy legally as well as internally, well. No one wanted a “freak” on the team either) but that didn’t mean he had to blow the interview.

Coulson noticed, of course, because you don’t get to be a higher up in a security firm by being unobservant. One eyebrow quirked up. “You disagree?”

Clint took a deep breath and released it, centering himself. _Eye on the target, Barton_. “Not at all. It’s just . . . Here.” He thrust the form at Coulson and waited for the inevitable.

Coulson read, his eyes flicking over the page. Clint watched, waiting for the moment when he saw it, waiting for the small flinch, or a frown, or possibly even a full, disgusted, twisting of the mouth. But Coulson’s lips twitched up, just a little, and Clint didn’t know what to make of that. There wasn’t anything on that form that should have been _funny_.

“I see nothing here to make you undesirable,” Coulson said, and Clint felt a flash of heat travel through him. He tamped it down with a scowl, because, wow, inappropriate.

“Are you sure you looked closely enough?”

Coulson hummed. “Pretty sure. Your name change does nothing to invalidate your incredible army record, nor does it preclude you from being a capable fighter and excellent marksman. The only thing it does is tell me you probably have more inner strength than half of our employees and that you might be a bit of a Clint Eastwood fan.”

Clint barked out a laugh, surprised and relieved. Also, no one else had ever made the connection. “Yeah, well. I’ve been told my parents named me Josey after that movie came out. Mom liked it and Dad didn’t argue because Clint Eastwood. It was the best he was going to get with a baby girl.” He shrugged. “It seemed fitting to keep the sentiment. Besides, no one messes with a guy named Clint.” (God, how he wished that were true.)

Coulson grinned and Clint grinned back, and neither of them could know that, for Clint, it would be the start of friendship, of safety, of _home_.

**Author's Note:**

> For those who are curious but don't want to Google, the movie is "The Outlaw Josey Wales," starring Clint Eastwood, debuting in 1976. Josey Frances Barton became Clinton Francis Barton some 35 years later.


End file.
